12 Signs Your Swimmer is Passionate About Swimming   Passionate: having, compelled by, or ruled by intense emotion or strong feeling. (dictionary.com)   Swimming is a tough sport. It develops strength in body and character through countless hours of practice. In order to be a swimmer, kids have to be intrinsically motivated. No one can make them put in the hard work required—they swim because they love it.   Thankfully, swimming is sport that can last a lifetime. If a child is truly passionate about swimming, they will swim through...

10 Ways to Push to 110 Percent By Mike Gustafson//Correspondent   The old sports cliché, “push yourself to 110%,” really doesn’t make sense. 100% is 100%. There is no 110%. What that extra 10% signifies, actually, is that you have not reached the definition of 100%. You were more at like 90%. And you just didn’t know it.    110% is more about perception: It’s about perceiving yourself at your maximum limitation, and then doing even more. It’s about finding a brand-spanking-new self-defined 100%.  But how can you find that...

5 Things You'll Take Away from Swimming   Swimming is a gift in a lot of ways. Sure, there are lots of “missed” moments, those parties you have to hear about on Monday mornings (which no one completely remembers anyways), and bumped heads from not getting the backstroke flags up in time. But those little things will seem trivial, funny, or completely irrelevant in the years after you hang up your suit. But with those perceived “losses” comes an overwhelming return. Some of the awesomeness is apparent while you are...

Redefining Success: 8 Tips for Being a Great Sports Parent By James Leath, Changing the Game Project, November 2015 Man, is it hard to be a parent these days. You are bombarded with information, trying to keep your kids safe, while giving them the independence to grow and thrive; all of it can drive you nuts. When it comes to sports, it’s pretty easy to get overwhelmed by all-star teams, camps, expensive equipment, private training and more. It all make you feel, perhaps, inadequate, or that somehow you are failing...

How To Increase Mental Toughness: 4 Secrets Of Navy SEALs And Olympians Posted by Eric Barker, November 2015 Know what’s really interesting? Learning how Navy SEALs build mental toughness to handle deadly situations. Know what else is really interesting? Learning how Olympic athletes deal with the pressure of competition when the entire world is watching. Know what’s the most interesting of all? When you find out they do a lot of the same things. Learn more here:  

CVST Throw Back Thursday - #TBT   Anyone remember these Junior Olympic Qualifiers from CVST? It wasn't that long ago, or was it?

Will a Gluten-free Diet Up Your Game?   Gluten-free diets, essential for those suffering from celiac disease and wheat allergies, have also become popular with athletes. Some may go gluten free in an effort to deal with GI problems like bloating and cramping. Others may have no specific complaints, but think cutting gluten will somehow up their game.  Read More  

Katie Ledecky Named to TIME’s Most Influential Teens of 2015 List   The accolades won’t stop rolling in for USA Swimming’s top athlete. Katie Ledecky, the current world record holder in the 400-, 800- and 1,500-meter freestyle, can add “most influential” to her list of achievements acquired before she leaves her teenage years behind.   TIME released its annual list of most influential teens Tuesday, and the 18-year-old Stone Ridge graduate was among the 30 named for their “global impact through social media and overall ability to drive news.”   From...

12 Athletes Candidly Respond to "Do You Think Swimming is Hard?"   I’ve always felt like swimming never got enough credit. So, when I set out to write this article, I wanted to bring light to the fact that our sport is underestimated. I was expecting a lot of, “Swimming is so easy, all you have to do is float,” or “I could do your practice easily,” but I was dead wrong. Here are the responses I got:   ONE “I couldn’t even swim one lap. I’d die. I don’t...

Top Nutrition Tips to a Happy Halloween By Chris Rosenbloom, RhD, RDN, CSSN With Halloween just around the corner, the sugar debate is bound to heat up. We all know we should eat less sugar, but how can young swimmers enjoy Halloween without giving up some fun on October 31? Ration the fun. Sort your treats into piles for pre-swimming fuel, post-swimming fuel, and just for fun. The pre-swimming fuel treats can include granola bars or peanut butter candies that deliver some complex carbohydrates and protein. Post-swimming treats are the...